Instructions

ZOOM IN by clicking on the page. A slider will appear, allowing you to adjust your zoom level. Return to the original size by clicking on the page again.

MOVE the page around when zoomed in by dragging it.

ADJUST the zoom using the slider on the top right.

ZOOM OUT by clicking on the zoomed-in page.

SEARCH by entering text in the search field and click on "In This Issue" or "All Issues" to search the current issue or the archive of back issues
respectively.

PRINT by clicking on thumbnails to select pages, and then press the
print button.

SHARE this publication and page.

ROTATE PAGE allows you to turn pages 90 degrees clockwise or counterclockwise.Click on the page to return to the original orientation. To zoom in on a rotated page, return the page to its original orientation, zoom in, and
then rotate it again.

CONTENTS displays a table of sections with thumbnails and descriptions.

ALL PAGES displays thumbnails of every page in the issue. Click on
a page to jump.

21
against reading an internet tutorial on
it and proceeding forward, here’s
why. There is more than one level of
nitration in the nitrates group. The
one you would be shooting for is the
tetranitrate version and you would
have a clean burning paper that
makes a perfect cartridge. If you use
a little too much of one acid or the
other you could easily end up with
hexanitrate and that is explosive.
You would basically be wrapping your
black powder charge in a large charge
of smokeless powder equivalent and
this is not very safe. The only way
to know the difference is to ensure
the chemical equation of the reaction
is exactly balanced to push the reac-
tion in the correct direction. I’m
not a chemist and I’m not willing to
bet my guns or my fingers on my
chemistry ability. It’s OK at this
juncture if you’re not completely
clear on this chemistry
as long as we start to
understand that soaking
paper in saltpeter isn’t
going to achieve our
goals. The only method
found of making paper
cartridges not involving
chemical nitration to
nitrocellulose was a
method developed by
William Montgomery
Storm during the Civil
War. He came up with
the idea of treating
seamless skin cartridges
with a varnish made
from gutta-percha.
This somehow turned
the cartridge com-
bustible without nitra-
tion. Gutta-Percha is
dried coagulated gum
of Malaysian trees. It
is still used in dentistry
so it should be avail-
able. Unfortunately,
my experiment with
this ended quickly, for
as soon as I asked the butcher for
some intestines the wife quickly
stepped in. It was made clear to me
that this direction of experimentation
was as dangerous to my health and
happiness as explosive chemistry.
How about buying the right
paper – believe it or not, we can.
There are a few companies around
that are offering paper cartridge kits
and nitrated paper but I can only
speak about the one I use. There is a
company called H-C Collections and
their business as stated on their web-
site is “We created H&C in order to
help you bringing back to life guns
from the past that we all love so
much”. (http://www.hc-collection.com)
They supply combustible envelope
cartridges in 36 cal and 44. They
have rolling kits and everything you
might need. The paper I received
from this company was the real
combustible paper, perfectly clean
burning with no residue. There’s no
smoldering bits to ruin a day and had
approximately the same burn speed
as black powder. This is the real
combustible paper it is even shipped
damp.
Glue – The original cartridges
were glued with water glass (sodium
silicate). I had ordered glue with my
paper and tested that. The adhesive
I had received with my H&C papers
proved to be excellent. Clean burning
and even if used as a solid mass on
the rear of cartridge ignition was
unaffected. The glue I received did
not seem to work on regular paper
so it would leave me to think it’s a
nitrocellulose glue of some kind.
This led me to try some different
glue when mixing two paper types.
Contact cement will burn with a
reasonable quickness if you’re in a
pinch but it leaves a great deal of
rubbery residue that is difficult to
clean. Crazy glue worked extremely
well but the cartridges (and fingers)
kept getting stuck to the mandrel. A
white glue stick worked well and I
was using a dab of the H&C glue on
the bottom to give it a final seal.
Rolling Mandrels – the required
tool to roll a paper cartridge is some
kind of mandrel. A good mandrel
has three important dimensions. You
want the large side to be near the size
of the projectile to facilitate the cart-
ridges attachment. The mandrel
should make a tapered cartridge to ease
loading so it needs to be tapered.
PAPER CARTRIDGE CASE